Looking at grabbing one...so what would be your choice in the $1,200 range??? Will be used just for hunting, punching steel and having in the safe. Not going to be used for any type of mass killing or anything like that.

the MP10 is not a bad gun. doubt you will find one at $1200 even used.

DPMS or Armalite are pretty much your only options in that price range. I would rather build one again and get exactly what I want.

Palmetto State Armory has recently added AR 10 uppers and lowers at some pretty attractive prices. Under $1000 bucks and easy to build yourself.
Can't speak to accuracy or dependability but I have several of their
AR 15's and have been quite happy with them. Give 'em a look.

From my studies there appears to be a price minimum below which it's more luck than anything else that the gun will work correctly.

I looked into them a couple of years ago and ended up with another .223. In my opinion, the .308 AR's are too heavy for anything except a static position and all are proprietary.

If you insist on buying one, pick up a DPMS. They are about the lightest of the batch and seem to be winning the standardization race.

They are only heavy if you use heavy parts. You can build one similar in weight to the new DPMS rifles as long as you don't slap on heavy parts, the same applies to the ar-15.

This one is less than 8.5lbs without scope and still wasn't built to be a super light weight rifle.


MEGA 308 17 by wareagle700, on Flickr

Yes get the DPMS Gen2! DPMS Gen2 = GAMECHANGER!!! You will love it!

Ordering a BHW barrel so what twist rate 1-8.5 or 1-11 are the 2 choices???

1-11

Why the 1-11 over the 1-8.5??? Just curious as to not needing or wanting the faster twist.

every 308 win I have ever owned and there have been a lot of them was either 1-10 or 1-11. A 300BO will need 1-8 or 1-7. You planning on shooting a lot of 220 grain 308 cal bullets subsonic? Then get the 1-8.

Thanks Jimmy just one more question for ya. Will the 8.5 have any ill effects on the regular weight bullets at regular speeds.

I just don't know.

You do not want a 8.5 twist unless you area shooting subs exclusively. A 10 twist will handle anything from 147gr and up from a .308. A 8.5 twist is too fast for normal loads and will most likely contribute to poor accuracy.

Guys, as a newbie to ARs, how does the LaRue compare to a Knight SR25? I've had a DPMS rifle in 308, and was considering getting another 308 in the AR platform.

The KAC and LaRue are both great rifles. Overall the KAC will probably have the edge in quality and reliability and the LaRue will have the edge in accuracy. I haven't heard of many unhappy owners of either though.

OK so now educate me on the forged vs billet upper and lowers. I have forged on the AR15 but noticed that Palmetto State seem to be the only forged manufacture of AR10 stuff. Will the forged not hold up to the 308 or just know one else has went to the forged offerings?

1-11 or 1-10 twist, and I don't think it matters all that much forged vs billet unless it matters to you.

I have always heard forged lowers were actually stronger than a billet lower of the same size. I guess that's why many billet receivers are bigger than standard forged ones. Most of the .308 receivers you buy are billet as there is no set standard for .308's. One manufacturers upper doesn't always work with another's lower. I don't think there is an advantage or disadvantage to forged vs. Billet receivers as far as strength or quality goes. Just buy a matched set and go from there.

Forged is much cheaper I like cheaper as long as the function, quality and safety is still in tact.

Who else makes a forged offering other than Palmetto State???? I have see an Aero Precision lower but no upper by them.

Palmetto makes the cheapest sets I have seen ( although cheaper isn't always better). The Aero Precision lowers work with DPMS uppers. If I were going to build another one I'd look at the CMT or MEGA .308 receiver sets.

The heart and sould of your rifle will be in the barrel and BCG. Skimp there and you are asking for issues. There is no reason to spend $1500-$2000 building a rifle with DPMS parts. Might as well buy a DPMS and get a warranty with it. With .308's you need to put a little more money forward to get the most out of the rifle.

You built yours right?

I'd appreciate a post sometime on what you used and why you chose that stuff. .308s are foreign to me. And it seems like the factory offerings are pretty expensive for spotty quality.

Yes, once I prove to myself that cutting the barrel to 17.5" with rifle gas and JP lightweight BCG is the secret to a well tuned .308, I'll be glad to do a write up. Haven't shot it since the barrel work, I think it's going to be smoooooth.

Sounds good.

MSTN does rifle gas with 17" barrels, but that's 5.56. VooDoo has 16.5" rifle barrels that they said are troublesome without a LW BCG and fiddling with buffers, again in 5.56.

Armalites are also forged. At some point I'll start up load development again for this one, which is wearing a Rainier Arms Ultramatch 18" barrel. Rainier turns them from Shilen blanks.

see that is the thing sub $2000 range is a maybe.... The first SR-762s had problems as well, anyway they fixed it mine is after the fix and is a keeper but now I have another 11.5 pound full up rifle....why didn't I just keep that FAL I sold in 2001!!! Glad I passed on the SCAR 17 for various reasons.

The built it route is definitely the way to go unless you have 3.5-5K to drop on a high end .308.

Forged vs billet; back a few years ago a friend and I were using a few uppers and never had any problems. CMT opened the Stag line and uppers were harder to get. A few companies started producing billet uppers and lowers, then all of a sudden, "salesmen" started telling me the higher priced billet receivers were of much better quality. Couldn't find a straight forged upper in the house, I needed to start using billet. Horse puckey, it's simply a money maker for them.

Stick with forged unless you like a billet design, that's the only reason to go billet.

Blue, I just built one with the VooDoo UL 16.5 rifle gas and it runs like a top with standard bolt and buffer plus adjustable gas. I tried the LW bolt and lightened buffer and it did not like to run. I have not given up yet but shooting a match this weekend so I want it to run.